Geography

Two thirds of Serbia are mountanious and the rest of the territory is composed of plains. All of the Balkan mountain ranges meet south of the Sava and Danube rivers. The Dinaric mountains and the Šara-Pind mountain range end in the western part of the country, whereas parts of the Carpathian, Balkan and Rodopi mountain ranges spread eastwards. Fifteen mountains in Serbia are higher than 2000m, and the highest peak is Djeravica in the Prokletije Mountains (2656 m). On the other hand, northern Serbia is almost all flat. The whole of Vojvodina is actually a part of the Pannonian plain and at its edges lie the plains of Mačva, the Morava valley, Stig and Negotinska Krajina. In the south, the largest plains are Metohija and Kosovo; other plains are actually broader river valleys, like that of the Western Morava, Niš, Toplica, Pirot etc.

With the exceptions of the Beli Drim River basin, that belongs to the Adriatic watershed, and the Lepenac and Pčinja rivers that belong to the Aegean, all the other rivers in Serbia belong to the Black Sea watershed. Only the Danube, the Sava and the Tisa are navigable along their entire courses within Serbia. The longest river is the Danube, whose course through Serbia is 588 km long.

Climate

There are three climate zones in Serbia. The Pannonian plain and northern parts of central Serbia have a continental climate that is characterised by warm summers (up to +40°C) and cold winters (down to -20°C). Central and southern parts have a moderate continental climate without such extremes. Regions surrounded by high mountain peaks (large parts of the Raška region, the Šara Mountain, and Stara Planina) have a mountain climate, with pleasant summers, but very cold and snowy winters.

Due to these climactic characteristics, the best time of the year for visiting Serbia are the spring months of April and May, as well as early autumn, from the beginning of September to mid-October.